This disclosure generally relates to wearable heat transfer devices, and more specifically to a flexible, wearable heat transfer device capable of being worn on a user' s body and repeatedly bent in various planes without operational failure.
Many remote control applications are enhanced by providing a user with a degree of haptic feedback. For example, in a virtual reality environment, haptic feedback may provide a user with a sense of a virtual object's temperature. Hence, haptic feedback may assist in a user's remote creation or manipulation of virtual or real objects. Conventional virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) visually and aurally present content to users via displays and speakers, respectively. However, many VR and AR applications benefit from providing haptic feedback in addition to presenting audio and video content. Haptic feedback allows an AR or a VR system to more fully immerse a user in an augmented or a virtual world by allowing the user to more effectively interact with the augmented or virtual world. For example, haptic feedback allows a VR or an AR system to expose a user to temperature changes that increase the user's sense of the virtual or augmented world.
Traditional heat transfer interfaces rely on heat transfer such as conduction, diffusion, convection, and radiation. Accordingly, traditional heat transfer devices are often physically connected to an external heat source and heat sink and have a high thermal conductivity to conduct heat from the heat source to an external environment. However, in many applications, use of high thermal conductivity and an external heat source prevents traditional heat transfer devices from being easily wearable. Moreover, in various embodiments, a heat transfer device may be attached to joints or other surfaces subject to stretching or flexing. Conventional heat transfer devices lack malleability and flexibility to be readily used when affixed to surfaces that stretch or flex.